Erie County police departments wear pink badges to raise awareness

By
Jon Behm, The Morning Journal

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and a couple of Erie County police departments have taken notice.
Sandusky and Perkins police will sport pink badges in October to help raise awareness of breast cancer.
“We’re hoping that the badges will cause people to take a second look,” Sandusky Chief John Orzech said.
“Hopefully, people will think something like ‘If the police are supporting the cause, then so should I.’ ”
The badges, which Orzech hopes will become an annual tradition, will be virtually the same as current badges. The state seal remains in the center with “Sandusky, Ohio” surrounding it.
“The officers can personalize it a bit with their names if they would like,” Orzech said.
“Other than that, they will be identical, only pink.”
The idea was the result of a conversation he had with his son, a deputy for the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, the chief said.
“We were talking and the idea came up,” he said. “I ran it past a couple of supervisors and they liked the idea.”
Orzech said that he already has received positive feedback from the community about the badges.
“I’ve gotten a few calls from breast cancer survivors,” he said. “They’ve been very appreciative of what we are doing.”
Raising awareness of breast cancer is important, Orzech said.
“It’s not hard to find someone who has been affected by breast cancer, or cancer in general,” Orzech said. “We want to show that we are here to help. Not just as police, but as humans as well.”
For Perkins Police Chief Ken Klamar, the pink badges are extremely personal.
“My sister-in-law battled with cancer last year,” he said. “She is now cancer free because they caught it early enough.”
Klamar, much like Orzech, said that he hopes wearing the pink badges will show that the Police Department is there to support.
“Everyone is showing their support of breast cancer in October,” Klamar said. “We want to as well.”
The concept of the pink badges began in Perkins when an officer who had lost his mother to cancer approached the chief with the idea.
“I’m hoping that our badges will remind women to get checked early,” Klamar said. “If even one person gets checked because of our badges, the effort will be a success.”